Love as Strong as Death
by Smitty91
Summary: When you finally find what's missing in your life and what makes you whole, you'll do whatever it takes to make sure that part of you is never taken away again.
1. Chapter 1

Love as Strong as Death

"_Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm. _

_Love is strong as death. Jealousy is cruel as the grave. _

_The coals thereof are like coals of fire that have a vehement flame._

_Many waters cannot quench love. Neither can the floods drown it._

_If a man gives all the substance of his house for love,_

_it would utterly be contemned."_

_(Song of Solomon 8:6-7)_

Chapter 1

"Warning," a voice said over the television, "this television program is uncut and uncensored. It contains strong language and some adult situations. Viewer discretion is advised."

"This should be good," Alvin said to himself. He set the remote down on the table and watched the screen.

The scene on the screen showed two ponies, one a cyan blue Pegasus and an orange blond-haired earth pony, rolling around on a bed, their hooves wrapped around each other as they smooched. Alvin instantly recognized them as Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Honestly, he wasn't too surprised by this turn of events, seeing as how the two of them were one of the most popular pairings within the _Friendship is Magic _community. After a rather rough sex scene that involved a lot of mane and tail pulling, the two finally reached their climax and Rainbow Dash happily rolled off Applejack, both letting out a happy sigh. While Applejack lit a cigarette as a means of relaxing, Rainbow Dash merely enjoyed her afterglow.

Once the afterglow had finished, Rainbow Dash untangled herself from the bed sheets and tidied up her mane and tail before gathering up her saddlebags, she smiled at her lover. "Same time next week?"

Applejack let out a sigh. "Sure." She took another drag of her cigarette. She shook her head.

Rainbow Dash frowned. "What?"

"I just don't understand it."

The Pegasus gave her lover a baffled look. "You don't understand what?"

"I don't understand how you can go through life pretending that you're happy."

"What are you talking about?"

"When was the last time you told me you loved me?"

"Uh . . ." Rainbow Dash had to admit, she had to stop and think about that one.

"See? You can't even remember! I'd rather you tell me to my face that you hate me instead of pretending that you'd rather be with somepony else."

Rainbow Dash glowered.

"Do you realize that this is the first time we've made love in the past three months?" She took another drag of her cigarette. "What is it that you want from me, Rainbow Dash?"

"Honestly?"

"Honestly. I want the truth."

"The truth?" She sighed heavily and, after looking down at the floor for a moment or two, looked back up at her lover. "I want a divorce."

Applejack cringed visibly at this revelation before leaping off the bed and getting in Rainbow Dash's face. "Well, that's just fine, _Dashie_!" Spit flew from her mouth as she said the last word, almost as if it was a curse word. "I'd rather be with Rarity than be with somepony who doesn't love me!" She walked out of the room.

"My sentiments exactly," Rainbow Dash shouted after her. "Fluttershy's better in bed than you are, anyway. Must be that assertiveness training that she took."

"At least Rarity isn't selfish in bed!" Applejack walked back in the room with Rainbow Dash's belongings in a saddlebag. "Here!" With her mouth, she threw the Pegasus's belongings in her face. "Pack your shit and get the fuck out of my house!"

Rainbow Dash snorted, blowing Applejack's mane to the side. "Fine!" She spit in Applejack's face, taking the earth pony by surprise, before gathering up her things and walking out of the house.

The screen faded to black and a commercial break began to ensue. It suddenly became completely black once again as Alvin shut off the television and set the remote back down on the table, sighing heavily.  
He picked up his phone and scrolled through his contacts. He didn't have very many people he could talk to and, according to the clock, it was five after ten. They were all probably in bed already. He shook his head and set his phone back down, pondering what he should do next. He didn't see there being any point in staying up any later. There was nothing of real interest to do.  
He brushed his teeth, then walked across the hall to his bedroom. A book lay on his nightstand, but he shook his head at it. He didn't feel like doing any reading tonight. He climbed into bed and hoped that he would be able to get to sleep. It was half past ten by the time he fell asleep.

He didn't have to work today, so that was good. He could spend the day doing whatever he desired. After a quick breakfast of a few granola bars, he packed his gym bag and headed down to the local gym. He had everything he needed: deodorant, gym shorts, tennis shoes, a loose-fitting shirt, his basketball, and a few bottles of Gatorade.

Once the game was over, he debated with himself whether or not he should go ahead and take a shower with his friends. It was either that or he could take a shower at home. The latter would be a problem, because he didn't want to wait until he got home to take a shower. Cleanliness had always been an important aspect of life for him and he didn't want to stink up his car with sweat and body odor. After all, he'd just gotten the car cleaned. Needless to say, he didn't feel like having to get the car vacuumed out once again, even if it was to just get rid of the smell.

Weighing his options, he decided to go ahead and take a shower with the guys. It would be easier than having to drive all the way home just to take one. He headed to the shower room, a towel, soap, and a change of clothes in hand. He stopped in the threshold to observe the shower room. The showers were divided by walls, so there was no chance of him getting sexually harassed by one of his friends. Still, he couldn't deny the fact hat he enjoyed his friends' company, and he even thought that a few of them were good-looking.

He blinked upon realizing that he was thinking dirty again. His religious upbringing had taught him that such thoughts were wrong, unholy, ungodly. Still, the voice inside his head persisted despite his greatest efforts to extinguish it. As he observed one of his friends, he couldn't help but think that the young man had very nice looking legs. They were well-toned with muscle. He wondered if any of his friends found him sexually appealing. If so, why hadn't any of them brought t up to him before?

He felt himself getting hot. Worse yet was the fact that he felt himself getting hard. His face was burning. Whether this was from embarrassment because of his erection or because of the heat in the room, he didn't know. Either way, he decided that he couldn't possibly take a shower with his friends, especially not like this. If they started to notice and point it out, there was no way he would ever live it down. Without giving it a second thought, he turned and walked out of the gym to his car.

He blamed Applejack and Rainbow Dash for his sudden infatuation with his guy friends. Along with many others, he had voted on them as the couple that he wanted to see get together the most. Fluttershy and Rarity had been a close second. It had been close. Fluttershy and Rarity had just barely gotten enough votes to where it became a tie between the two. In the end, Fluttershy and Rarity had gotten 719 votes, whereas Applejack and Rainbow Dash had gotten 730 votes. To appease the fans, though, the writers had decided to go ahead and write a few episodes dedicated to the most popular pairing, although some fans were up in arms over the pairing choices. Some felt that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy belonged together, likewise with Applejack and Rarity. Thankfully, there were fanfic writers for that sort of thing, just in case the FlutterDash and RariJack fans needed to get their fill.

It was funny, actually. While he did love the idea of Applejack and Rainbow Dash being together, he also didn't have a very big problem with Spike and Big Macintosh being together. He'd written a few fanfics about the pair, getting hard while he was writing their scenes, much to his embarrassment. What was wrong with him? \

A quick shower later, he walked down the hall to the kitchen to prepare his lunch. Today's lunch was mozzarella cheese sticks and marinara sauce. Nothing special. Cooking them, he considered the concept of hunger. Not only was his stomach hungry, but his heart was too. As far as he was concerned, there was something missing in his life.

He thought that maybe he should get a girlfriend, but yet again, the voice in his head dismissed this. Perhaps he was gay. He wasn't sure. He'd been going back and forth, back and forth like this for the past several months now. Maybe he was bisexual. If that was so, then why didn't he find women sexually stimulating like he did his guy friends? It was possible that there was something mentally wrong with him. At least, that's what he'd been told by his mother and father. He'd been told that gay people were mentally ill, that their gay thoughts were a tool that Satan used to led them astray, away from God and His truth. He chuckled at these theories now. They sounded so silly, like something a little kid would come up with! If he was indeed gay, then there was nothing wrong with that! His doctor had even said that he was very healthy, both mentally and physically. He had the body and the grades to prove it.

He grabbed a Mountain Dew from the fridge. Most of the time he drank water. With his meals, however, he enjoyed soft drinks. Flicking on the television, he sat down on the couch, setting his plate and bottled soda on the coffee table. He changed the channel and smiled upon seeing Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash in the middle of a conversation. He took a swig of his drink as he watched the two of them.

Rarity shook her head. "It can't be."

"But it is," Twilight replied. "It's true."

Rainbow Dash's eyes widened. "But you're dead!"

Twilight chuckled. "Yes, but thanks to my friends, I'm enjoying myself much more now than I ever did when I was alive."

"So your spirit's trapped inside this body?" The rainbow-maned pony gestured to the purple colored unicorn in front of her.

"I wouldn't say trapped. Possessed? Definitely."

"But why?"

"I was once a big star, the biggest in Ponyville. But then Sapphire Shores came along and nobody wanted me anymore. Fortunately, I had saved my money and invested well and live my life in luxury. But I was alone, starved for the attention of men."

"And now in death, you're young again."

Twilight grinned. "And able to indulge in whatever I desire."

Rainbow Dash glared and took a step forward. "You can't possess Twilight! It's wrong, and I won't let you"

Twilight came forward so that they were nose to nose. "I'm not possessing anyone. In fact, I'm just helping them free themselves from their own sexual hang-ups, and enjoying myself a little along the way."

"But they can't resist your magic. They have no will of their own. You've put a spell over them."

"Not a big one, but I do get what I want and so do they."

"How does it work?"

"First, I look at them and then, I touch them. And then, they want me, just like you do right now."

"Your touch is like a drug. All I can think about at this moment is how badly I want to make love to you."

Alvin smiled at the screen, watching the two ponies kiss each other. Their tongues battled for dominance while they stroked each other. Rainbow Dash gently pushed Twilight onto the couch beside them and began ravaging her like there was no tomorrow. Sure, it wasn't Alvin's ideal way to spend an afternoon, but it was at least an entertaining and interesting one. While he watched, he ate his meal. Being that his eyes were more focused on the screen, he ended up missing his open mouth and instead ended up getting marinara sauce on his cheeks. He chuckled to himself. Luckily, he could multitask.

The view of the camera pulled back to reveal Fluttershy and Rarity watched from the window, their eyes wide and their mouths agape.

Rarity turned to Fluttershy. "Darling, do you think it's a good idea to be snooping around like this? Shouldn't we be telling Applejack about this?" She received no response. "Fluttershy?"

The cream-colored Pegasus moaned and finally turned to look over at her mate. "Goodness, this is getting me so hot!" She panted as she raised a hoof to brush back her mane. "Let's fuck!" She cleared her throat. "Um, if that's okay with you. Whatever you want to do is fine."

Rarity smiled. "You know I can't resist that look." She tackled Fluttershy to the ground and the two of them started to ravage each other like there was no tomorrow.

The camera returned to inside the Golden Oaks Library where the two horny lovers were still joyfully going at it. Upon hearing the commotion downstairs, Spike had descended the stairs to see what the trouble was, only to stop in the middle of his question upon seeing his master making hot, sweet love to Rainbow Dash, Applejack's mate! He couldn't help but grow quite aroused at the sight, but swallowed hard when they both noticed him. To his surprise and utter delight, instead of scolding him for watching them, they actually asked him if he'd like to join in!

Alvin wasn't entirely sure what had happened to the original writing staff of the show, but he certainly didn't want them back! The writers had taken the show in a bold, new direction, making the characters and their stories much darker and mature in content. Just last week, there had been a character arc for Fluttershy about her cutting and contemplating suicide. Another character arc had involved Rarity unable to cope with the pressures of being a parent to Sweetie Belle and becoming an alcoholic to cope with her troubles.

When he thought about it, he realized that his existence was very sad. He was young and alone. He spent most of his evenings masturbating to bright ponies having sex. Ugh! What was wrong with him? He really needed a girlfriend, or at least to get out more! It wasn't healthy how he stayed cooped up in his apartment, whacking it to imaginary ponies fulfilling his darkest of sexual fantasies. There had been an episode not too long ago about how Fluttershy and a number of her friends were into BDSM. They'd shown the scene in full detail: Fluttershy spanking Twilight's behind with a whip while the latter cried out that she'd been a very naughty pony and she needed, deserved to be punished, and begged Fluttershy to ravage her plothole. It had been a very pleasant evening for him.

He'd tried dating and getting a girlfriend, but he had never been successful. Every time he met a girl that he thought he could spend the rest of his life with, he was always too nervous and shy to actually talk to her. It'd been that way ever since middle school. His circle of friends had encouraged him to at least give it a try, seeing as how they had all had girlfriends, but he'd never been able to work up the guts to ask a girl out. Some of his friends set him up on dates with a few of their girl friends. His lack of social skills usually brought the date to a snail's crawl. The atmosphere around them had been so quiet that they didn't even bother saying good night to each other upon arriving home.

His lack of success with dating girls brought him back to the question of whether or not he was gay. He was still unsure, and had been since middle school. Just like with the friends he played ball with, he'd found some of his guy friends sexually attractive, but didn't dare to ask them out on a date for fear of either rejection or being ostracized. He would never live it down.

Deep down, he knew what was missing from his life. It was what caused him to be envious towards Applejack and the other Mane Five that had something that he didn't. They had love, companionship, a girlfriend–or, marefriend as they were known within the show's universe–someone they could talk to, spend all of their time with, a shoulder to cry on. He wanted that so badly, so what was stopping him?

Simon smiled at his lover over the rim of his glass, taking a sip of his red wine before setting the glass back down. He sighed and gave the chipmunk sitting across from him a dejected look. "Theodore, you know I'm in a committed relationship right now."

The chubby chipmunk nodded. "I know that."

"So why are you attempting to win me back when you know it's not going to work? You're lucky I was able to slip past Jeanette in order to meet you here."

"Speaking of which, how is she doing these days?" Theodore gave a chuckle to himself as he took a drink of his brandy. He absent-mindedly picked at his vegetarian salad.

"You know as well as I do that leaving L.A. wasn't an easy task for her."

"And how is she doing?" He popped a tomato into his mouth.

Simon shrugged. "She's doing fine, just fine. Still trying to find her own place. Why don't you find yourself a nice girl, forget about me?"

Theodore smirked. "You know I can't do that, Simon." He reached forward and patted Simon's hand. "I'm infatuated with you, remember?" He smiled. "We've had some good times, eh?"

Simon nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we have." His eyes widened as a sudden realization came to him. "What about Eleanor? I bet she's pretty lonesome at the moment. I'm sure she'd love your company."

Theodore sneered in disgust. "Ugh! I'll pass! That girl reminds me too much of a little friend of mine."

Simon sighed. "So there's nothing I can do or say to talk you out of this, is there?"

"I'm afraid not, Si."

The bespectacled chipmunk sighed yet again. "Fine. I'll talk it over with Jeanette and, if need be, we'll have a meeting over at my place to discuss it. For the time being, let's just enjoy our meal." He quickly added, "As friends, nothing more."

Theodore nodded. "I hear you, Si. As friends, nothing more."

Once the meal was over, they drove back to Simon's apartment.

"So, I'll call you tomorrow," Simon said as they stood in front of the apartment door.

Theodore nodded in agreement. "Sure. Sounds good." Standing up on his toes, he pecked Simon on the cheek and whispered in his ear, "I love you." He finally turned and walked down the hall.

Simon watched the chubby chipmunk go down the stairs before unlocking his apartment door and stepping inside. It was time for a shower.

Alvin groaned in frustration. It was no use. Despite tonight's episode involving Applejack and Fluttershy beating the shit out of Twilight Sparkle for casting a spell on Rainbow Dash, thus forcing the loyal pony to cheat on Applejack, and then the two of them engaging in a foursome with Rarity and Rainbow Dash, if only to solve the question about who was better in bed, he still couldn't get to sleep. Fluttershy had confessed that she still had deep feelings for Rainbow Dash, and Applejack admitted feeling the same way towards Rarity. Hence, why the foursome had occurred. Needless to say, the aftermath was one hell of a mess: cum and lube all over the place matted, wrinkled bed sheets while the four mares lay in a pile, panting, trying to get their breath back, while they kissed and caressed one another while exchanging loving whispers. It had been the best sex scene the writers had produced so far, in Alvin's opinion.

Even with that, the scene had only served to frustrate him even more, angering him over the fact that he didn't have a special someone in his life. Maybe that was why he couldn't get to sleep. He was too depressed over the fact that he didn't have someone sleeping beside him. Maybe a nice walk would do him some good.

Getting out of bed, he changed back into his day clothes and climbed onto the roof of his apartment complex. From here, he could easily see the residents in the apartment complex across from his. To help him, he brought up a pair of binoculars. Tonight was just the right night to do some peeping. It was cool, but not so cool that a jacket was needed. Unfortunately for him, there weren't that many windows that were lit up tonight. Obviously, everyone had turned in for the night. But then, why wouldn't they? After all, it was well past ten thirty at night.

He scanned the windows to see if there was anything of interest. There wasn't. The only one that had anything of interest going on within it at all was the window directly across from him. The shades were drawn and the curtains parted, giving him a clear view of the blue-eyed chipmunk that resided in the apartment. The chipmunk was very tall, but also extremely scrawny. With some weightlifting, he could have been a very nice-looking chipmunk. From the looks of it, the chipmunk appeared to be getting ready for a shower. He was shedding his clothing, after all.

Alvin watched the mysterious chipmunk for a moment or two, at least until he disappeared from view, no doubt to go take a shower. He groaned in disappointment and wondered if whether or not it'd be possible to find who this mysterious chipmunk was. Maybe he could help Alvin with his current dilemma and put an end to his worries with relationships. But it was too late to figure that out now. There was no way he was going to bother the owner just to figure out who was living in the apartment directly across from his. That could wait until tomorrow.

Alvin spent most of his time in his apartment the following day, working on his latest novel. For the sake of his vision, he only worked half the time any other worker would. While a regular job was eight to nine hours, his job was only four hours long, if only for the sake of his vision. Once he'd decided to take a break, he went down to his mailbox. He smiled upon seeing a check from his publisher, his cut of the profits made from the sales of his novels. It was more than enough to get the bills paid off and keep food in his mouth.

Turning, he realized that he was near the main office. Now was as good a time as any to go ahead and figure out who was in the apartment across from him.

Mr. Bailey was sitting at his desk when Alvin walked in. The chipmunk cleared his throat, signaling his presence. The balding man looked up. "Alvin, the rent's not due til next week. What do I do for you?"

"Are you allowed to release information about the different residents in various apartments?" Alvin asked.

Mr. Bailey shook his head. "No, not unless it's for an investigation. As far as I know, you're not involved with the police, so, no, I can't give you that information."

Alvin frowned. "Oh. Okay."

"Just for curiosity's sake, which resident is it?"

"The apartment right across from mine, if I'm not mistaken. I've never seen him around here before. Is he new?"

"Why, yes, he just moved in here last week." He cleared his throat. "But that's all the information I'm going to release to you. Nothing further."

"All right. Well, if it's okay, I figure I might as well go ahead and pay the rent while I'm here." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his checkbook. Laying the checkbook on the desk with his pen at the ready, he looked up at Mr. Bailey. "How much?"

A couple of minutes later, Alvin walked out of the main office, only to stop upon seeing the mysterious chipmunk was checking his mail. The taller chipmunk didn't seem to even notice him as he looked through his mail. He turned and walked down the sidewalk. The shorter of the two swallowed, mentally cursing himself for not having the guts to actually go up and talk to the taller one. He stomped his foot in frustration. Ugh! This was ridiculous! What was holding him back?! At the very least, he knew what Fluttershy had been going through when she'd attempted asking Rainbow Dash out on a date, and again when she'd done the same with Rarity. He shook his head and decided that he might as well follow the taller chipmunk to his apartment.

Simon stopped, hearing a second set of footfalls behind him. He turned, only to discover that there was nothing there. He shrugged his shoulders. Perhaps he had only imagined it. Or maybe it was due to stress, especially with finals coming up. He turned and continued down the hall towards his apartment. Reaching his door, he tucked his mail underneath his arm while he dug around in his jacket pocket for his apartment key. Finding it, he proceeded to unlock his apartment door.

Alvin smiled. He watched the taller chipmunk unlock his apartment door, paying close attention to the number on the door. Apartment 120. At least now he knew where the mysterious chipmunk lived, but he still didn't know the chipmunk's name. Wait. . . . What was that? There was something white and rectangular lying on the floor in front of the door. No doubt it was an envelope. He couldn't just deliberately steal another person's mail, could he? He debated with himself as to whether or not he should actually go through with the act. At the very least, it would probably finally give him the chance to learn the chipmunk's name. Ah, to hell with it!

He made sure that no one was looking before running across the hall, snatching up the envelope, and walking a good distance, just in case. He looked over the label:

SIMON PATRAKIS

319 LAKEVIEW APARTMENTS

VANCOUVER, B.C.

Yes! This was it! He'd finally learned the chipmunk's name. Even so, he couldn't just waltz up to the door, knock on it, and expect the chipmunk to invite him in, could he? He couldn't rely on his good looks this time. He would need to present himself as a reasonable young man. He would need to get off on the chipmunk's good side. The question was: How? Also, when would he decide to visit Simon? This question was relatively easy to answer. He figured that the best thing to do would be to wait until nighttime to visit Simon. This way, everyone else would already be in bed, thus allowing them more privacy and less distractions.

As usual, Alvin's evening was spent eating dinner while watching ponies make hot, sweet love–screaming in ecstatic pleasure, begging for more, smacking their rumps, and cursing like sailor's. Was there any better way to spend an evening? When he thought about it, Alvin considered the idea that maybe Fluttershy was right: "Screaming and hollering, loss of control, and passion." Taken out of context, he could understand why someone would mistake those words as her describing sex.

He popped another forkful of sesame chicken into his mouth and moaned in pleasure, the soy sauce adding a special spicy flavor to the meal.

The fried rice and sesame chicken was quickly consumed and as soon as the show ended, he shut off the television and made his way to Simon's apartment.

Simon groaned in annoyance when he heard several knocks at his door. Who on Earth could be visiting him at this hour? He set his book down and decided that he might as well see who it was, if only to tell them to piss off and then slam the door in their face. He looked through the hole and discovered that it was another chipmunk. He shrugged his shoulders and undid the various locks before opening the door and eying the chipmunk curiously. "Yes?"

The chipmunk before him swallowed and extended a hand. "Hi. The name's Alvin. You're new here, right?"

Simon shook the chipmunk's hand and nodded his head in a dumbfounded manner. "Yes. Why do you ask?"

"I thought we could get to know each other over dinner or something."

Simon shook his head. "No, thanks. I'm already in a relationship." He started to close the door. He would have succeeded had the chipmunk not blatantly shoved his hand against the door frame.

"Ah, come on," Alvin coaxed. "What could it hurt?"

Simon turned his head to look back down at the book that was lying on his coffee table. He supposed that he could always read later, and it wasn't really that late at night. It was roughly eight thirty. He turned back to Alvin and shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, come on in." He opened the door all the way and stepped back to let Alvin in.

'Thanks." Alvin walked past Simon and examined the apartment. It wasn't very much different from his own. In fact, it seemed to have the exact same layout as his. "Nice place you got here."

"Uh, thanks, I guess," Simon replied, closing the door and locking it. "Make yourself at home, I suppose. Can I get you anything? A drink, maybe?"

Alvin shrugged his shoulders. "Sure. Do you have anything alcoholic?"

"Of course. I'm a writer. Why wouldn't I?"

"Ah, so you're a writer yourself, eh? That's something we have in common." He brushed off the couch cushions and sat down, taking a moment to examine the book on the coffee table. He picked it up and looked at the back cover to look at the synopsis of the book. "I see you're a big fan of James Patterson."

"One of my favorites." Simon walked back in the living with a bottle of bourbon and two glasses, all three of which he set on the table. He opened the bottle and poured a drink, which he handed to Alvin, before pouring himself one. "So what do you write?"

"Mostly novels involving a fat skunk and his raccoon boyfriend, but I've started delving into other characters like my foxy and rabbit characters."

Simon cringed. "Ugh! No offense, but I hate stories with talking animals. They're so childish!"

"Maybe so. What do you write about?"

"Anything that comes my way. I'm a freelance writer. I have to work with whatever I can get. Needless to say, it makes making a living extremely hard."

"I imagine."

"I work for lots of magazines, writing articles on subjects like cancer, AIDS, gay rights, and such on and so forth."

"So you're more of a social issues writer?"

"You could say that, I guess." He took a sip of his bourbon, licking his lips. "It's funny. I've never actually heard of you."

"Just because you manage to get your work published doesn't mean you instantly become a celebrity. It takes work, lots of hard work, and a thumping good agent on your side before you can actually start making money."

Simon nodded in agreement. "Tell me about it. I gave up law school to become a full-time writer." He sneered and shook his head. "Worst decision of my life, I swear." He took another drink. "It's not all bad, I suppose. I do enjoy what I do for a living."

"As do I."

"You're at least lucky. You have an agent on your side; I don't. I'm having to work down at the local supermarket just to make ends meet. You may not have noticed this, but," he tapped his glasses, "I have extremely poor vision, so I get an SSI check alongside what I make at the supermarket. Plus, my girlfriend and her family are really wealthy, so she helps me out from time to time."

Alvin felt his heart sink. "Oh. Y-you have a girlfriend?"

Simon nodded. "Yeah, would you like to see her?"

"S-sure."

Simon reached into his wallet and pulled out a photo. "This is her." He handed the photo to Alvin.

The shorter of the two examined the photo. It showed a brown-haired, gray-eyed girl chipmunk with glasses, wearing her graduation gown and cap. He smiled at Simon. "Well, she's no Applejack, but she is good-looking."

Simon smirked. "Nice to see that I'm not the only brony in this apartment complex."

"Same here." He handed the photo back to Simon and took another drink of his bourbon.

The evening went on with them talking and drinking glass after glass of bourbon. Eventually, Alvin got up and walked over to Simon's stereo. He selected a CD and popped it in. As "Can't Stay Away From You" by Gloria Estefan began playing over the speakers, he extended his hand towards Simon and asked, "May I have this dance?"

Simon stared at Alvin's hand for a moment or two before nodding his head and taking Alvin's hand in his. He stared at his feet, watching their movements. He swallowed, locking eyes with Alvin. "I should warn you, I'm not much of a dancer."

Alvin smiled. "Don't worry about it, sugarcube. Let the music move your feet."

Simon nodded. "Okay." He swallowd once more, trying to build up his confidence.

"Just do exactly what I do," Alvin instructed.

"Okay." He gulped when Alvin rested his hands on his shoulders.

"Let's get closer. Like this." He wrapped an arm around Simon's waist and rested a hand on his back, pulling him closer so that they were nose to nose. He grinned. "Does this remind you of anything?"

"You mean the episode where Applejack taught Spike how to dance before his date with Sweetie Belle?"

Alvin chuckled. "Exactly!" He spun Simon around and caught him, replacing his arm and hand as they were. He smiled and was pleased to find Simon smiling back at him. "Glad to see you're having fun. . . ."

Simon shivered, feeling Alvin's hot breath brushing his fur aside.

Alvin gently squeezed Simon's arms. "You feel tense. Worried?"

Simon nodded slightly. "This has never happened before. . . . I've never felt this sudden attachment to someone before. It's sort of weird."

"I know what you mean."

Their lips met as they kissed.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Alvin opened his eyes as the sunlight poured in through the blinds of the windows. Feeling that he was holding onto something, he looked down to see that he was holding onto an arm. But whose arm was it? He shivered, feeling someone breathing on his neck. He turned his head to see that Simon was sleeping soundly beside him, his arm wrapped around his body, and Alvin's hand had Simon's hand in a tight grip. One other thing that he noticed was the fact that both of them were completely naked.

He gently shook Simon in a futile effort to get the taller chipmunk to wake up. The chipmunk did so tiredly, sleepily rubbing his eyes as he sat up. His eyes shot open upon making the same discovery that Alvin had. He grabbed the covers and pulled them up to his chest. "Where are my clothes?!" He turned as Alvin tapped him on the shoulder and he looked down. His clothes lay in a pile along with Alvin's. He eyed Alvin yet again. "What the hell did we do last night?"

Alvin shrugged. "I don't know. I remember we did a lot of drinking. Everything afterward is something of a blur." He rubbed his head, attempting to remember every little detail about last night. He groaned in frustration. "I can't remember a thing!"

"Well, at the moment, I think it's best if we just went our separate ways and never spoke of this incident again."

Alvin nodded in agreement. "Right."

While Alvin quickly got dressed and hurried out of Simon's apartment, Simon decided that now would be a good time to go ahead and get a shower. The only question on his mind was why his butt felt wet and sticky.

The two of them avoided each other as much as possible for the next few days. Meanwhile, they struggled to remember what had occurred between them that night, but nothing came to either one of them. Eventually, they gave up trying to remember and treated the whole experience as a really bad dream. So, they both went on with their lives, each of them writing and doing anything else they could to support themselves and make sure that they had enough food to eat and to make sure that their bills were paid.

Alvin was in the middle of a new novel, sipping a glass of wine as he wrote, when he heard a knocking at his door. Despite his insistence that he didn't stop, being that he was on a roll at the moment and feared that the momentum would come to a screeching halt if he were to stop, he decided that he might as well get up and see who it was at the door, even if he did so with reluctance. He made sure to save the document before closing his laptop and walking over to the door and undoing the locks. He was surprised when it was Simon who was on his doorstep. "Simon? Is there something I can help you with?"

"It just struck me," Simon replied, walking in the apartment. "What happened that night."

Alvin closed the door and approached him. "Are you sure?"

"I'm almost certain. Like a bolt of lightning, it just came to me."

"Well, spit it out. What happened?"

Simon swallowed. "Well, it appears that we both got hammered and we . . . ended up . . . doing it."

Alvin blinked. "And you're sure about this?"

"Positive. I did a UV scan of the room. There's no doubt that it's semen."

"So . . ., what now?"

"Well, I guess the best thing would be to come out and admit that I actually have a boyfriend here in the city."

"You do?"

"Yes. Jeanette doesn't know about it, of course. With how busy she is with school and work and her internship, I've been able to keep it a secret from her."

"So that would make you bisexual?"

Simon shook his head. "No. I've been dating Jeanette as a cover-up for my true sexuality. I struggled with it for years, but I've recently started to embrace it."

Alvin didn't want to ask it, but he knew that the question was inevitable. "And who's the lucky guy?"

"A mechanic here in the city, goes by the name of Theodore Martinez."

"I'm somewhat familiar with him. He's helped me out with my car a few times. He's really good, really knows his stuff."

"That, he does." He shook his head. "But that's not the point. The thing we need to be asking ourselves is what the hell we do now."

"What are you talking about? What Jeanette doesn't know won't hurt her, and it's not like she's going to scan your room to make sure you haven't been fooling around behind her back."

"It's not Jeanette that I'm worried about. It's Theodore that I'm worried about."

"So what? The same applies to him. I highly doubt he goes around with a UV light in his back pocket."

"Well, it's been a week since the sheets were last washed. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to wash them again. I was able to get most of the semen out of my butt."

Alvin chuckled. "So that's it, then?"

Simon shrugged. "I guess."

Alvin clapped his hands. "Great! So, what's the problem?"

"Well, we pretty much went over each other's entire lives in one night, and I don't really know all that much about Theodore, to be honest. I liked him mostly for his looks."

Alvin laughed. "Man, you're shallow."

Simon chose to ignore Alvin's comment. "What do I do?"

"Well, if you're not really emotionally attached to him, I'd say break up with him. If you're serious about me and getting together, I suppose we could make it work."

"Oh, I'm not so sure. I really do like him and we get along so swimmingly. I don't really know you well enough to know if you'd be loyal or not."

"You're really shook up about this, huh?" He stroked his chin in thought. "I'll think of something."

"What do you mean? What are you planning to do?"

"Trust me, I know how to handle this."

"You're not going to do anything reckless or illegal, are you?"

"Pfft." He limped his hand. "Of course not. Like I said, trust me. I know what I'm doing. But if the issue of loyalty is still an issue for you, I think I have a solution." He went into the kitchen and picked up a steak knife. "We could become blood brothers."

"You don't have any STDs, do you?"

Alvin shook his head. "Not that I know of. And you?"

"Not in my history."

"Great! So, let's do it!" Before Simon could stop him, he sliced open the palm of his hand and tossed Simon the knife, who just barely caught it without seriously injuring himself. "Come on."

Simon, reluctantly, cut open the palm of his hand and extended it towards Alvin. "Blood brothers?"

Alvin shook Simon's hand, mingling their blood together. "Blood brothers."

"What's your plan, then, Alvin?"

The shorter chipmunk shrugged. "I don't know yet, but I'll think of something. Moving would be too much of a hassle. Maybe we could get him put on a cruise or something."

"That would be nice, but he's no idiot. He'd never fall for it."

Alvin stomped his foot in frustration. He sighed. "Don't worry. I'm sure I'll eventually come up with something. For the time being, would you mind leaving me for a while? I'd like to get back to my novel."

"Oh, of course, of course." He hastily said goodbye before leaving Alvin's apartment.

Alvin sat back down at his laptop and continued working on his latest novel. Every now and then he would think about a solution for Simon's dilemma. It wasn't until he was writing the ending to his novel, in which one of the antagonists was killed via an assassin, that he came up with his plan. If he could hire an assassin to kill Simon's current boyfriend, then the two of them would be out of the hot water that they currently found themselves in. It was perfect! He just had to make sure that the assassin that he chose didn't squeal on him, tracing him back to Theodore's death. He just hoped that the plan didn't come back to backfire on him, and he certainly didn't hope that Simon had any ex-lovers that would be more than happy to latch onto him as soon as they learned that his current lover had been done away with. It was just a matter of finding the right guy for the job. As long as he payed them, he didn't think they would rat him out as the person who had hired them to do the job.

His alarm clock went off right at five o' clock, signaling the end of his work session. He saved and closed the document before going online to look for a suitable assassin. Realizing that there were a lot of assassins in Vancouver, he quickly changed his mind about finding the assassin online, partly because he didn't feel like scrolling through a long list of them, and partly because he didn't have the time to do so. He needed an assassin and he needed one now! He found one that was nearby, at a local bar. That would do. But he needed either a picture or a description of Theodore to help the assassin identify his target. Perhaps Simon had a picture of him. . . .

Simon was a little surprised to hear someone knocking on his door at half past five. He wasn't expecting anybody, but seeing as how Alvin was the only person he knew within the apartment complex, he figured that he had a pretty good idea of who was at his front door. Just as he expected, Alvin was standing on his doorstep when he opened the door. "This is unexpected."

"Do you have any pictures of Theodore?" Alvin asked.

"What for?"

"I'm trying to get off and nothing's working."

Simon shrugged. "Sure." He reached into his wallet and pulled out a couple of photos and extended them to Alvin. "Take your pick."

"This one will do fine." Alvin selected a full-body shot of Theodore and slipped it into his pocket. "Thanks."

"That's a surprise. I was certain that you would have picked one with him naked."

"No, this one will do. Thanks again."

"No problem, Alvin." Without waiting to hear another word from the chipmunk, he closed the door and returned to reading his book.

Now that he had a photo of Theodore, all Alvin had to do was meet the assassin at the appointed time and place. The two of them had had a brief discussion on the phone and the assassin agreed to the deal just as long as Alvin paid him up front. An argument had ensued and the assassin finally agreed that Alvin would pay him once the job was done and he promised not to say a word to anyone about who had assigned him to the target.

He was actually surprised by how easy it'd been to obtain a photo from Simon. He was certain that Simon would be suspicious of him. He was sure that such would be the case as soon as Theodore's death was announced on the television. He could worry about that later. Right now, he had a meeting to get to.

Just in case someone suspected him, Alvin made sure to wear a trench coat and shades to the meeting with the assassin. He didn't want anyone recognizing him. He made sure to keep his face hidden as best as he could. He spotted the assassin sitting alone at an empty table. The bearded man waved him over. He wasn't worried at all about being conspicuous. He was busy drinking a scotch as Alvin sat down across from him.

"So we're in agreement," the bearded man said. "You will pay me $2,000 as soon as the job is over and done with."

Alvin nodded. "Yes, that's right. We'll need to meet someplace more secluded, however."

"Understood. Who is the target?"

Alvin removed the photo of Theodore from his pocket and slid it over to the man.

Taking the picture, the man studied the picture for a moment or two before looking back up at Alvin. "What's his name?"

"His name's Theodore Martinez. He works at the Budapest Auto Repair shop in West End, Vancouver."

"I see. Do you have any other information on the target?"

"No. I'm sorry."

'So, in other words, you expect me to follow him around and wait for an appropriate moment to kill him?"

"Well, yeah, isn't that what you guys do?"

"Very well. Have my money ready. If I don't get the job done, then you may keep your money. However, you need not fret. I am one of the best assassin in the country! You will be handing me that $2,000 in no time at all!"

Alvin smiled. "I'm sure I will. Good luck to you."

"We should remain in contact, just in case. Here, I'll give you my number." He removed a slip of paper from his jacket and slid it over to Alvin.

After studying the paper for a moment or two, Alvin added the number to his contacts. "I look forward to hearing from you soon, Michael."

Alvin walked to his apartment with a bit of pip to his step. He even skipped a little. He dug into his jacket and pulled out his apartment key. He hummed a happy tune to himself while he unlocked the door and stepped into his apartment. He set the grocery bags on the kitchen table along with his keys and shed his jacket, setting it on one of the unoccupied chairs. He was quite confident that Michael would get the job done. As he had said, he was the best assassin in the country. Still, if Michael was successful in his mission, it meant that there wouldn't be anyone as good as Theodore to work on Alvin's car. That didn't matter in the slightest, really. Being that he occupied himself often with his writing, he barely used his car, except for grocery shopping.

While it was a bit early, he decided to have himself a celebratory scotch. At the very least, he'd been able to go through with his plan. He downed a few glasses of scotch while watching television. He was happy to see that the four pony couples had settled their differences. They'd decided to open up their relationships to more opportunities, so that they weren't tied down by just one pony. They were each polygamous. One week, Rarity and Fluttershy would sleep together. The next week, Rarity would switch Fluttershy for Applejack, and vice versa. The storyline about Twilight being possessed by a former pop star that had been outshone by Sapphire Shores was still up in the air. Alvin was looking forward to getting to see that stuck-up, know-it-all unicorn get the beating she so rightly deserved.

Over the next couple of days, Alvin quickly took notice to the fact that the voice that had been tormenting him night and day about his sexuality was no longer speaking to him. It seemed as if sleeping with Simon, however unintentional it had been, had finally caused the voice to dissipate. It seemed as if he'd finally figured out the question as to whether he was homosexual or not. He just wished that he could remember the experience he'd had with Simon. He was sure that it hadn't been anything short of incredible.

A whole week went by before Alvin heard back from Michael. He was actually surprised that it'd taken Michael a whole week to off Theodore. He'd been expecting the task to be done in only a few short days. Nonetheless, he agreed to meet Michael as soon as he could. He told Michael that he would call him when he was ready to meet him.

No sooner had he gotten off the phone with Michael was it that Simon contacted him.

"He's dead," Simon wailed.

"Simon, calm down," Alvin suggested. "Who's dead?"

"Theodore!"

"Who told you he was dead?"

"No one had to tell me. The coroner's here."

"Where are you?"

"Budapest Auto Repair. I was going to bring my car in to get the oil changed."

"I'll be right there."

"No offense, Alvin, but I'd like to be alone right now."

"Okay, that's fine with me. I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

"Sure thing, Alvin."

Sighing, Alvin hung up the phone and downed another shot of scotch.

Headlights flashed across a brick wall as a black car pulled up to a seemingly abandoned alleyway. The lights remained on the wall until the driver of the vehicle shut them off and finally exited the vehicle. In his hand, the driver held a wad of cash. He walked up to a bearded man who was leaning against a dumpster smoking a cigarette.

'You kept your word," Michael said happily.

"As we agreed," Alvin replied, handing him the money.

Michael counted the money carefully before nodding his head in approval and smiling at Alvin. "Well done, Alvin. I'm proud of you. It's been a pleasure doing business with you. Let me know if you want anyone else killed."

"You'll be the first to know."

"Great. Well, I've got to get going. Don't want anybody sniffing around here. You'd best get out of here while you can."

"I read you. I'll see you later, maybe."

"Sure."

Alvin turned and walked back to his car, the gravel crunching underneath his feet. Getting back in his car, he noticed that he had a new message waiting for him. He was expecting it to be a message from Simon, but the sender of the message was completely unknown to him. The message itself only consisted of five words:

_JC: I know it was you. _

He blinked at the screen. Perhaps the sender had the wrong number. He shrugged it off and pulled out of the alleyway and onto the empty street.

On one of the rooftops of the buildings that made up the alleyway, a blue-eyed figure watched the car drive away. . . .


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

For the next few days, Alvin and Simon avoided each other like the plague. Alvin understood that Simon was in the middle of the grieving process. Nonetheless, he made sure to reassure Simon that he was available if Simon wanted to talk. Simon thanked him, but said nothing more than that. Alvin was able to preoccupy himself with his writing and catching up on his reading. The newest season of _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic _had sadly come to an end and so he was left to his own devices until the newest season got underway. He busied himself with watching peoples' reviews of the episodes on YouTube and talking with fellow bronies about what his favorite episodes were and what episodes he'd outright hated. For example, he hated the fact that the story arc about Twilight supposedly being possessed hadn't come to a close and hoped that it would in the newest season. He requested that the bronies who were Christians pray for his friend Simon.

Meanwhile, Alvin continued to get interesting emails and text messages from the sender known simply as JC. He shrugged these away as the user having the wrong person. It struck him as odd how the user cold know his email address and phone number. Maybe JC had the right person after all and Alvin was merely praying that he had the wrong person. That couldn't be the case, though.

The more vehement and threatening the messages became, the more frightened Alvin became.

It was nighttime and Alvin once again checked to make sure that the apartment door was locked. It wasn't. He quickly locked it and turned to the windows. The blinds and the curtains were drawn. He walked over to make sure that the windows were locked. He smiled, seeing that they indeed were. He walked over to his laptop and set up a password for his account, then closed his laptop and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

He felt a shiver run down his spine, feeling a light breeze brush across his neck. He lowered his toothbrush and looked around. Nothing there. It was just a breeze coming in through the window. He walked over and locked the window after he'd closed it and closed the blinds. There. All was safe again. He went back to brushing his teeth.

Before retiring to bed, he made sure that his bedroom window was locked. He locked his bedroom door and shut off the light. His stomach grew tight in the darkness that surrounded him. There wasn't any light coming in through the window, thanks to the fact that the curtains were closed. He felt around until he reached his bed and he slipped inside, pulling the covers up to his chin.

Maybe JC wasn't even a real person. Maybe it was someone playing a prank on him, trying to scare him. Or, maybe it was his guilt over what he'd done to Simon's boyfriend that was getting to him and JC was a figment of his imagination, his own way of telling himself that he should tell Simon the truth. To hell with that! Simon was no longer tied down to anyone and the two of them could spend the rest of their lives together, if they so chose. What did he have to worry about? Everything would be fine. He was just a little on-edge at the moment. It would surely pass with time. A good night's sleep is just all he needed to make himself feel better.

Unfortunately, a good night's sleep was far away from Alvin due to the fact that he couldn't stop thinking about the idea that maybe JC would burst through his bedroom door at any moment. He kept staring at his bedorom door, unable to get to sleep. His mind was too full. A full mind meant that it was very hard to get to sleep. What was wrong with him? Was he really that paranoid or was his mind simply playing tricks on him? Maybe he should consult a doctor about his sleep troubles.

Simon lied on his side in his bed, surrounded by wadded up tissues. He stared at a picture of Theodore while his nose ran. He ran his sleeve across his nose. He sighed. "What did I do to deserve this?" He rolled over onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, clutching at his covers. "I suppose I deserve it. Maybe this is just God's way of punishing me for sleeping with Alvin, I don't know." He sighed once again. "Maybe I should just talk to Alvin about this, though I don't know if he's had any experience with this sort of thing. Still, I should talk to at least someone about this. It's not doing me any good just lying here moping."

He turned his head to look over at his phone and he remembered Alvin's words: _"If you need anything, let me know. Remember, I'm always here for you if you need to talk." _He reached for his phone, but stopped halfway there. It was rather late and he doubted that Alvin felt like being bothered by his woes. He decided against talking to Alvin this late and instead reached for the remote. He turned on the television. Changing the channel to Cartoon Network, he thought that maybe some comedy would do him some good. So, fluffing up his pillows, he got himself comfortable for a late night watching adult-oriented cartoons like _Mission Hill _and _The Oblongs_. He sighed. His upper back felt better and didn't hurt as much, at least.

Simon awoke the next morning to hear his phone going off. Groaning and wiping away the drool from his mouth, he picked up his phone and wearily looked at the message and who it was from. To his shock, it was from JC. More than that, the message only had four words:

_JC: We need to talk. _

Not wasting any time, Simon dialed JC's number.

"Hello?" asked a gravelly voice on the other end.

"Are you in the mood for some breakfast?" Simon asked. "Some coffee, maybe?"

"Thank you for meeting me here," JC said. He took a sip of his coffee.

"It's no trouble," Simon replied. He took a bite of his breakfast burrito. "So, what do we need to talk about?"

"We need to talk about your new friend, Alvin Seville."

"What about him?" Simon gave the gray rabbit a curious look, not knowing what JC was getting at.

"Let's just say you can't trust him, Simon. I would advise you either stop spending time with him or outright kill him."

Simon choked on his bite of food and beat himself in the chest to help the food go down. He took a drink of his orange juice and gave JC a confused look. "What are you, crazy?! I'm not going to kill him."

"Shh!" JC reached forward and grabbed Simon's lips. He looked around to make sure that no one was looking in their general direction or hadn't heard them, then leaned back in his chair and continued. "I'm telling you, Simon, you can't trust him. You're better off dumping his ass and finding yourself a new beau."

"Sorry, but unless I hear a good reason as to why I shouldn't trust him, I'm not going to do as you say."

"I . . . I don't have one."

Simon smirked and nodded. "I thought as much. So, I guess that concludes this meeting, then?"

JC said nothing.

"Great!" Simon stood up and grabbed his breakfast and coffee. "Thanks for the meal, by the way." He started to walk away, but then turned and looked down at JC. "You're not . . . going to do anything to hurt him, are you?"

JC looked up at his former lover and shook his head.

Simon leaned down and sneered at the rabbit. "JC, promise me you won't hurt him. Promise me!"

"I won't hurt him, Simon. You know I'd never want to do anything to hurt you." He patted Simon's hand. "Now get going. Don't you have an article you should be writing?"

The chipmunk's eyes widened. "Oh, poop deck! You're right!" He dashed out of the cafe and down the sidewalk to his car.

JC sighed. He took another sip of his coffee. "I said I wouldn't hurt him. I never said I'd wouldn't try to kill him myself." He smiled to himself.

"More coffee, sir?" a waitress asked.

"Yes, thank you." He lifted his mug and watched Simon drive off while the waitress filled it.

Alvin was glad that his writing was able to keep his mind off things. With his writing, it seemed as if he was in his own little world. When he wasn't busy working on a novel, he was busy writing pony fanfiction, naturally. His work continued to be highly praised by those who read it, although he did receive his fair share of haters. He chose to delete the latter's comments instead of amusing them, playing their game of who could be the most vile. Still, the nasty and rude comments certainly did irk him.

His ear flickered upon hearing a car door slam. Getting up from his work station, he walked over to his window and looked out, only to smile when he saw Simon making his way towards his apartment. He briefly wondered where Simon had been to, especially this early in the morning, but decided that it wasn't important. It wasn't any of his business anyway. Simon had more than likely just gone out for some breakfast and a quick coffee, by the looks of it. He returned to his computer and resumed his writing. If it wasn't important, though, then why did he have this sinking suspicion that something was up?

Simon sat down at his computer to see if he could get some writing done, but found that he had an extremely hard time concentrating. He couldn't help but think about what JC had said to him. Most of the time, when JC had a hunch about things, he was right. Maybe he was right about not trusting Alvin too. But how did JC know about Alvin, and how did he know that Alvin wasn't trustworthy? Perhaps the two of them had been together at one point, but as his best friend and former lover, JC would have told him so. He couldn't recollect JC mentioning Alvin at all in the past.

In the past few weeks, however, Alvin had proven himself to be a very trustworthy person. From Simon's point of view, Alvin had always been truthful about his life and his past experiences. Like him, Alvin had also struggled with his sexuality and it seemed that their brief erotic episode had put those fears to bed. Even so, he recalled that Alvin had been relatively calm during their conversation regarding Theodore's death. A little too calm, now that Simon really thought about it. Had Alvin had something to do with Theodore's death? Simon certainly didn't hope so, but based on the tone with which Alvin had spoken to him, Simon thought that maybe Alvin had played a part, albeit a very small part, in Theodore's death.

Damn it! Now he couldn't get any work done! He couldn't even concentrate enough to get a coherent sentence typed out. Perhaps that's what JC had meant when he'd said that Alvin couldn't be trustworthy. Maybe JC knew something about Alvin that Simon himself didn't. Maybe JC knew the part that Alvin had played in Theodore's death. Had Alvin even considered the consequences before agreeing that Theodore should be offed? Simon hoped he had. Otherwise, that meant that Alvin had no moral compass when it came to human life.

Simon groaned in frustration, pulling at his hair as he shook his head. He looked up at his computer screen and glared. To hell with this at the moment! He shut off his computer and stood up. This wasn't going to leave him alone until he found out the truth. He decided that he was going to find it out right now! He marched over to his apartment door, grabbed his apartment key, and he marched down the hallway, slamming his apartment door.

Alvin jumped when he heard an extremely loud knocking at his door. He turned his head towards the door. His curiosity piqued, he answered the door, only to have Simon come barging in and slamming the door behind him.

"What did you do?" Simon bellowed.

Alvin blinked. "I-I don't, uh . . . what?"

"Don't bullshit me! What did you do to Theodore? Did you kill him?"

"Simon, I don't have the means of doing that. Like you, I'm a very busy writer."

"That may be, but no matter how busy we are, you and I still make time to go down to the grocery store and buy food, don't we?"

Alvin nodded. "Exactly! When would I ever have time to plan a kill? Why would I even do that, especially if it meant hurting you? You know as well as I do that I'd never do anything to hurt you."

Simon glared and snorted. "Alvin, tell me the truth. Did you have anything, anything at all, to do with Theodore Martinez's death?"

"Simon, look into my eyes." Said chipmunk did just that. "I had nothing to do with your boyfriend's death, and that's the truth."

Just to be sure, Simon checked Alvin's eyes and facial features for any hints of dishonesty. Alvin wasn't blinking. He wasn't avoiding eye contact. He wasn't scratching or touching his face. His breathing wasn't heavy. He wasn't sweating. By all accounts, Alvin had to be telling the truth. Unless . . . "Let me see your computer."

Alvin blinked. "What?"

"I want to check your history. If you're really telling the truth, then there shouldn't be any history of you trying to get into contact with an assassin."

Alvin shrugged. "Go right ahead. I have nothing to hide."

Simon went over to Alvin's laptop and scrolled through Alvin's Internet history, triple checking each and every website and everything that Alvin had searched for on the Internet. He sighed in relief when he found nothing linking Alvin to an assassin. He stood up and turned to Alvin. "I'm sorry. I guess the grief just got to me. But you said you'd find a way to fix our problem, didn't you?"

Alvin nodded. "Yes. I was planning on contacting Theodore myself and asking him if he still had feelings for you, but I found out that he was dead before I could."

"Hmm." Simon stroked his chin. "How convenient."

"How did he die, if you don't mind my asking?"

"You don't know?"

"I don't read the paper or watch the news."

"Really? I thought everybody read the paper, or at least watched the news. Anyway, it was a freak accident. According to the papers, and the police themselves, he was trying to fix the motor on a car or something when all of a sudden, his tie got caught in the engine as it was turning over. He tried getting his tie out, only to lean too far forward and he got all cut to pieces by the motor."

Alvin covered his mouth in shock. "Oh, how horrible! No wonder you were so freaked out when you called! I'm sure that had I been there, I wouldn't have been so calm about it!"

"Don't worry about it. You didn't really know the guy, so why should you care about the fact that he's now dead?"

"I will miss him, though. He took really good care of my car."

Simon nodded. "Yeah . . ." He extended his hand. "No hard feelings?"

Alvin shook his head. "Nah." He shook Simon's hand. "To make up for it, why don't we go out for dinner, like a real date?"

"I don't think it's a good idea to go out dating when I just lost a boyfriend."

"Come on, it'll be fun." He poked Simon in the ribs with his elbow. "I'm sure a nice, big, fat steak will help you get your mind off things."

"Hmm, steak does sound good at the moment."

"See? Come on, let's go." He grabbed Simon's hand and led him outside to his car.

Simon sighed happily, rubbing his full belly while he and Alvin made their way to Simon's apartment. "That was fun. I had a good time tonight. I can't believe you were able to get a reservation there, and on such short notice."

"I'm good friends with the manager," Alvin explained. "He was the father of my last girlfriend, so we got to eat there whenever we wanted to."

"That must have been nice."

"Lovely."

The two stopped at Simon's apartment door.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later," Simon said.

"Same time next week?" Alvin inquired.

"Uh . . .sure."

Alvin clapped his hands in glee. "Great!" He grabbed Simon's head and gave him a powerful smooch on his lips before giggling giddily and skipping away.

Simon put a hand to his lips and smiled after Alvin. He unlocked his door and stepped inside his apartment. He noticed that he had a new message on his answering machine. He pressed "play." He started to take off his jacket, but stopped instantly when he heard whose voice was on the answering machine.

"Simon, this is JC. Just calling to make sure that you killed Alvin. Get back to me soon, okay? I really hope you did kill him, Simon. Like I told you before, he can't be trusted. I'm warning you for your own good. I'm trying to protect you. He's bad news, Simon. If you stay with him, you'll only end up getting your heart broken. I'm telling you this to spare you the pain of getting your heart trampled. Please, call me back as soon sa you can and let me know how it went down. Talk to you later, 'kay? I love you."

Simon's finger hovered over the "delete" button, debating with himself whether or not he should delete the message. Once again, the thought that maybe Alvin might have had something to do with Theodore's death struck him. Then again, Alvin had been telling the truth and he himself hadn't seen any evidence of the contrary on Alvin's computer. Alvin had been telling the truth, hadn't he? JC might not have been convinced, but Simon certainly was. With his mind made up, he went ahead and deleted JC's message. To hell with JC. Let him get jealous and bitter and whatnot. Simon wasn't going to give in to his demands. Until JC showed that he meant business, Simon wasn't concerned at all about Alvin having anything to do with Theodore's death. As far as he was concerned, he and Alvin were perfectly safe. He just hoped that they stayed that way and JC wouldn't go off on a rage and attempt to kill Alvin. At least he prayed not.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Are you doing coke again?!" She smacked the pink mare upside the head with her hoof. "What have you told you about that shit?!" She began hitting Pinkie in the head with each word she said. "How . . . _whack _. . . many . . . _whack _. . . goddamn . . . _whack _. . . times . . . _whack _. . . am I _. . . whack _. . . going to . . . _whack _. . . have to . . . _whack _. . . get onto . . . _whack . . . _your ass . . . _whack _. . . about this shit?! Huh?!"

Pinkie Pie blew a raspberry. "Oh, Dashie, don't be such a prude." She giggled and extended the tray towards her Pegasus friend. "Why don't you try a hit?"

"Ugh!" Rainbow Dash folded her forehooves. "No, thank you!"

"Oh, come on, Dashie." Pinkie Pie grabbed Rainbow Dash's head and forced her down so that she was snorting up the crack. "Just bend down and take a good, nice, long snort!"

Rainbow Dash raised up, some crack still lingering on her nose, her eyes wide. One of her eyes gave a twitch.

"See?" Pinkie Pie asked in a distorted voice. The pitch of her voice was so low that she sounded downright demonc! "Don't you feel better?!"

Rainbow Dash blinked as vibrant colors surrounded Pinkie Pie and her other surroundings. She looked down at her hooves and moved them slowly. She looked back up at her surroundings. "What the fuck . . .?" She looked behind her to see an army of changelings behind her, getting ready to attack her. "Hey, what the hell? Where did you guys all come from?!" Lasers suddenly shot out of her eyes, destroying one of the changelings in front of her. "What the hell?! _What the hell?!_" Without warning, her eyes began firing off lasers left and right, destorying the changelings one by one.

Alivn watched the scene unfold in glee upon his computer screen, eating a handful of pretzels. He sighed happily. "This is great!"

As if to counter his arguemnt, Rainbow Dash shouted, "This is fucked up!" while she was busy frying changelings right and left. "Where the fuck are all of you coming from?!" When she'd downed what she thought was the last changeling, she bellowed, "All right! Are we done here, or are there more of you motherfuckers?! Come on! I can take on all of you! Come on!" Slowly but surely, she began to come down from her high. She looked around her to see that her surroundings were returning to normal. Upon seeing Pinkie Pie gabbering on about something, she cried, "Whoa! Pinks, what the fuck just happened?!"

Pinkie Pie blinked. "We talked about that awesome orgy we had last week, and then we talked about Celestia's plan to ensure more healthcare for poorer ponies and–"

Rainbow Dash glared and pointed a hoof at Pinkie Pie as she backed away. "You stay the fuck away from me! You hear me, Pinkie Pie?! You just-just stay the fuck away from me!" She stopped when she saw a large number of ponies looking at her. "Well, what the fuck are you all looking at, huh?!"

"Sugarcube," Applejack said, coming up to her, "what in the fuck hell was that all about?"

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash gave Applejack a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?"

"All o' a sudden, you started runnin' around town, screamin' yer head off about changelings or some shit like that. What the hell were you on?"

"I . . .I don't really know. Some totally crazy shit that Pinkie Pie made in her meth lab or something, I don't know! Look, can we just forget about this and pretend like it never happened?"

"Well, sure we can, sugarcube." Applejack crept closer and began rubbing Rainbow Dash's chest. "I know a great way we can forget all about this. What say you and me go back to my place and have some of the same old, same old?"

Rainbow Dash beamed. "Mmm! Sounds good to me!"

Alvin let out a groan upon hearing a knocking at the door. He paused the video. Damn, and just when it was getting to the good part, too! He got up and answered the door. Not surprisingly, it was Simon at his doorstep. He stepped aside and allowed Simon to enter. "Can I help you with something?"

"No, not really," Simon admitted, turning to Alvin as the latter closed the door. "I just came to give you a message."

Alvin raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yeah. My ex-boyfriend JC wants to meet up with you. And, Alvin? Please be careful. I'm a little worried that he might do something to you."

"Hey, don't worry about it." He gave Simon a hug and a peck on the cheek. "I'll be fine, okay? Relax."

Simon let out a shaky breath. "Okay. If you need anything, call me, all right? If you run into trouble, don't hesitate to call the police."

"Sure thing, Simon. Is that all you wanted?"

"Well, no, not really. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind going out tonight. We had such a fun time the last week that I thought we could do it again tonight. What do you say?"

Alvin grinned. "You bet. We'll go as soon as I get back, all right? I got to pick the place last time, so this time, you get to choose. That cool with you?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Great. I shouldn't be long. An hour and a half or so, maybe. I'll call you so that you know I'm all right."

"Please do. I'll wait for you at my place."

Alvin shrugged. "Suit yourself." He walked over to his computer and shut it off. The sex session between Rainbow Dash and Applejack would have to wait until later. He grabbed his jacket from the rack and put it on. "We'll stay in touch, just in case, yeah?"

"Yeah, sure." Simon nodded. "Sounds good."

"Great. I love you." He pecked Simon on the cheek once more. "Gotta go! Leave whenever you're ready." He walked out the door and he was gone.

It only took Alvin fifteen minutes to get to the destination that JC wanted him to. Thanks to a phone call from the ex-boyfriend, Alvin had known exactly where to go. Not surprisingly, JC had insisted that they meet somewhere secluded, and what place was more secluded than a run-down, abandoned warehouse? He took the stairs to the top floor and found JC in a room sitting at a desk. JC was a small, short gray-furred rabbit with white fur from his cheeks to his chest. While he was quite small, he was also extremely muscular, very well-built. Alvin made sure not to underestimate him. There was no telling what sort of damage the rabbit could do. His size and stature weren't to be taken into account.

JC looked up at Alvin as the chipmunk entered. Without saying a word, he put his papers away and stood up. Walking over to Alvin, he studied the chipmunk up and down before addressing him. "You're still alive. I'm surprised. I thought by now that surely Simon would have done you in." He sighed dejectedly. "Looks like I was wrong."

'So, you're real," Alvin said. "You're the one who's been sending me all of those emails and phone messages."

JC nodded. "Precisely." With his paws folded behind his back, he walked over to a dusty window and looked out. "You see, Alvin, I was a very close friend of Theodore Martinez. I admit, I was a bit miffed when he stole my boyfriend out from under me, but I put it behind me for the sake of our friendship. The three of us were all very good friends. We spent an awful lot of time together. I found it quite strange that Simon was comfortable enough to have two lovers of his being around each other without fear that the two of us would break out into a fight over him." He chuckled. "It really was amazing, really, how well we got along. We were like brothers, most of the time." He turned and sneered at Alvin. "And then you came into the picture." He spat at the floor. A dribble of saliva hung from his lower lip. He wiped it away with his furry arm.

"I don't know what kind of pain I could have caused you, but–" Alvin was cut off in mid-sentence as JC marched across the room and smacked him across the face.

"Don't try that bullshit with me, Seville! I know full well what you did. You contacted Michael Smith to have my friend assassinated, didn't you? That way, he would be out of the picture and you would have Simon all to yourself. Is that right? Hmph! It's a damn shame you didn't count on me being one of Simon's former lovers. I'm not pissed off because Theodore stole Simon from me. As I've said, I've managed to put that behind me. But, what I am pissed off about is that you had the audacity to not only kill a good friend of mine, but you did it without remorse. Not only that, but you're a Peeping Tom, aren't you, Alvin? Yes, I also know that you were oogling my boyfriend like a horny schoolgirl, you sick, perverted freak!"

Alvin smirked. "For the record, he's not your boyfriend. He doesn't love you anymore. That's why he's with me!"

"Shut up!" He delivered another heavy blow to Alvin's face. "I'll tell you when you can talk, you heartless bastard!" He cleared his throat and shook his head. "I don't understand your kind, Alvin. The kind who kill, steal, and destroy without any remorse, without thinking of how your actions will affect others first. Did you not stop to think about how Theodore's death would affect Simon? The two of them were very close, don't you know? So, what the hell made you think that you could just kill Theodore and your actions not have any repercussions?! Fool!" He punched Alvin in the gut. "You stupid, miserable little fool! I'll see to it that you pay for this, Alvin Seville!"

He walked over to his desk again and pulled something out of a drawer. Alvin couldn't see what he was doing, given that he was reeling from the pain in his stomach. His ear twitched when he heard a click.

"And since Simon failed to kill you," JC said, walking back over to Alvin, "I guess that leaves me to do the job properly." He placed a paw on Alvin's forehead and lifted his head so that the two of them were eye to eye. "I want to make sure I'm looking into your eyes as you die." He pointed the gun to Alvin's throat and pulled back the hammer on the revolver, his finger on the trigger. "Say good night." His finger tightened on the trigger. . . .


End file.
